Wind Assisted Circulation Vs Forced Circulation Domestic Solar Hot Water Systems with Co₂ Filled Collector

The main focus of this study is to escalate the performance of the solar collector panel with minimal modification in a domestic solar hot water system. The conventional solar collector panel is filled with CO₂ gas and the experiments were conducted for both forced circulation system (FCS) and wind assisted circulation system (WACS). The results were compared to the same systems when they are operated without filling CO₂ in the solar collector panel. The hourly average efficiency seemed to be responding with respect to incident solar radiation and it corresponds to increased circulation rate of water across the collector. It was evident that the daily average system efficiency was enhanced by 3.27% and 3.6% for FCS and WACS mode of operation with CO₂ filled collector panel. Comparative study between FCS and WACS modes of operation with and without CO₂ reveal that WACS with CO₂ gas filled in the collector plane under normal atmospheric pressure (WACS-CO₂) appears be a better alternative to replace the FCS and WACS since WACS-CO₂ does not require electricity for its operation and can be installed in remote areas with limited or no supply of electricity.